1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer that makes a record on recording paper, and in particular, relates to a printer having a function to cut recording paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a kind of printer among printers, copiers, and facsimiles, a thermal printer is known and used in ordinary households as a printer to record image data acquired by a digital camera or the like on recording paper. Thermal printers discharge recording paper at various positions and some printers discharge recording paper to the front side of the printer, or in an upward direction, or even in a direction to the back side. Recently, demand for printers requiring only a smaller installation area that can be installed saving a space, has been growing and the upward discharge system which is superior in this respect is gaining attention.
Some thermal printers use continuous paper such as a roll paper as the recording paper and cuts off a recording completed portion of the continuous paper by a cutter contained in the printer without any margin around the cut recorded matter so that the so-called borderless record can be made.
As a method of making borderless recording, a method of cutting recorded paper to a specified size by using a cutter provided inside a printer after a cutting position of the recorded paper is adjusted by a roller for discharge is known. However, it is difficult to eliminate cutting position shifts when cutting is carried out between a recorded portion and an unrecorded portion of recording paper. Thus, instead of cutting a boundary position between a recorded portion and an unrecorded portion, a method of cutting recording paper before the boundary position between a recorded portion and an unrecorded portion reaches the cutter position is used. According to this method, a small recorded portion remains on the side of the recording paper yet to be recorded (on the side of unrecorded portions) after the recorded matter as cut paper is clipped and the product is cut off as cut paper. Thus, the recording paper is conveyed again so that the boundary between a recorded portion and an unrecorded portion is positioned downstream from the cutter position in consideration of shift of a cutting position. Accordingly, the recording paper is cut while the remaining recorded portion and a small unrecorded portion exist downstream from the cutter position. In this manner, the cut recorded matter can be prevented from containing an unrecorded portion and also the remaining roll paper after the cutting can be prevented from containing a recorded portion. In this case, the cut portion containing the remaining recorded portion and a small unrecorded portion (for the sake of convenience, referred to herein as a “margin portion”) becomes cut pieces and needs to be collected.
As an example of conventional technology, a method of providing a movable guide member downstream from the cutting position of the cutter and providing a cut piece collecting portion downward in the vertical direction on the flank downstream from the cutter position is known. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-160855 discusses the downward discharge and horizontal discharge. First, when a recorded portion of the recording paper is cut, the guide member constitutes a part of a conveyance route of recording paper and next, when the remaining recorded portion and an unrecorded portion (margin portion) of the recording paper are cut, the guide member moves to break the conveyance route of the recording paper. In this manner, margin portions which are cut, that is, the cut pieces, get out of the conveyance route of recording paper and fall freely to be collected by the cut piece collecting portion provided in the vertical direction on the flank downstream from the cutter position.
However, the cut piece collecting portion is not sealed according to the above conventional technology and thus, if the printer is tilted when the user carries the printer, cut pieces may be scattered about, causing a recording failure or discharge failure. Moreover, the upward discharge may be desired to improve design or to save the installation area. If an attempt is made to apply the above conventional technology applied to the horizontal discharge or downward discharge, also applicable to the upward discharge, cut pieces will be scattered about inside the printer because cut pieces return to the conveyance route on the upstream side from the cutter position, instead of the downstream side when cut pieces fall freely. Scattering of such cut pieces may prevent subsequent recording or conveyance.